Page 19 - Cribbs Res v Radstock Town 061223

The History of Radstock Town F.C.

Formation: Pro gramme notes from a game in 1937 suggest that football was
being played in Radstock as early as 1835 but there is no solid evidence to back
that up. However, there are newspaper match reports from 1883 so, it can be safely
as sumed that the club was actually formed in the early 1880’s. Radstock Wanderers
was the clubs name from 1889 until they changed to Radstock Town after affiliating
to the Somerset FA in 1895.
Ground: In the early days the club played on a ground off of the Old Bath Road
situated where a Primary School stood until recently. It was officially called
Roundhill but was known locally as ‘Hilltop’. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s they
also played at South Hill, which is where a Bath College campus is now but at the
time was a manor house and grounds owned by Earl Walder- grave.
The lack of a true home became critical at the end of the First World War and the
club was unable to re form until 1920 when they were able to move to their current
home at Southfield. The first official fixture played at Southfield was on Sep tember
10th 1920 when Warminster Town were the visitors in an FA Cup tie. The game,
which Radstock won 1-0, was watched by a crowd of 700, which apparently ‘greatly
pleased the club committee!’
As a business: Financial issues saw the club take a couple of breaks from
competitive first team football,
1900-01 to 1902-03 and again at the end of the 1909-10 campaign. The 1914-18
war and the lack of a pitch meant that Radstock Town didn’t appear again as senior
club until the 1920-21 season.
In 1930 club supporters joined to gether to create a supporter’s social club which
remains in existence to this day.
On the pitch: The club’s first silver ware came when they won the inau gural
Somerset Senior Cup at the end of the 1895/96 season beating Wells City 4-0 in a
replay at Midsomer Norton following a 1-1 draw. The club has won the cup twelve
times subsequently and finished runners up on a further thirteen occasions!
Success in league competitions has been harder to come by but they have won the
Somerset Senior League six times and the Wiltshire League on four occasions.
Despite many seasons in the Western League the best position achieved was way
back in the 1920/21 season when the reformed side finished run ners up. The
1960’s & 70’s were the most successful in the clubs long history when they won a
remarkable 12 leagues and cups!
The 2000’s: Early in the new millen nia the club was promoted back to the Western
League and then promoted to the Premier Division at the first attempt. Life in the
Premier Division was difficult though and the best place finish was 12th in 2010/11
season. 2013/14 was a particularly traumatic campaign which saw the playing
budget withdrawn to keep the club going, the chairman resign, two mangers leave
and ended with the club being relegated!
Since then though the Chairman and committee has worked very hard to bring
stability back to the club and de spite some dark moments the team remain in the
First Division.
Today: Season 2022/23 was a particularly difficult one for the Club. Despite
reaching the play-offs at the end of the previous season most of the squad decided
to play their football elsewhere. That and the late appointment of the new
Management Team of Ray Johnston, Elliot Gibbons and Ian Lanning had to start
the season with a makeshift eleven, however, hard work and team spirit saw the
team stay competitive throughout the campaign. Scroll on a year and after a
positive summer the same management team and supporters are optimistic that
this season will see us battling at the right end of the table!
After winning the League last season the Reserves will be led this year by Anthony
Morrison, Taylor Morrison and Bob Johnston following the resignation of Liam
Watson. Our very successful Under 18s will once again be in the very capable hands
of Ian Lanning and James Purnell.